First Vice President

Gregory Widin, KØGW

Greg lives in Stillwater, MN, in the St. Croix River Valley, just west of Wisconsin. He has been a licensed ham and ARRL member for more than 49 years. Originally licensed as WN2ZSH, he obtained the call sign KØGW after he moved to Minnesota in 1974 and obtained his Amateur Extra class license. He was Vice President and Training Director for the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association for a number of years and he continues as an instructor in the club's licensing classes. His first ARRL appointment was an Official Relay Station in 1967, when he was heavily involved in NTS traffic handling. He has served as Assistant Section Manager and Technical Specialist in the Minnesota section and is an ARRL Life Member and Registered Instructor.

Greg has served on the ARRL Board of Directors since 2007, when he was appointed Vice Director of the Dakota Division. He became Director in 2010. For several years he was on the Programs and Services Committee as well as the Ethics and Elections Committee, where he was also chair for two years. He served as chairman of the Administration and Finance Committee, which is responsible for overseeing ARRL human resource issues and information technology, as well as income and expenditures. In 2013, he proposed the formation of the Board's Logbook of the World (LoTW) Study Committee and has been its chairman since. In 2016, he was elected First Vice President of ARRL.

Greg earned an AB from Kenyon College in Ohio and subsequently a PhD in hearing science at the University of Minnesota. He spent three years as a Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT's Research Labratory of Electronics. After returning to Minnesota he earned an MBA/MS-Managment of Technology in 1992. He has worked in the areas of medical devices, hearing aids, digital signal processing, health care systems, commercialization processes, e-commerce and web-based user interface. He is an inventor on five US patents. Greg recently retired after 31 years with 3M. He is a charter member of Phi Beta Kappa, Twin Cities Chapter.

Greg belongs to the Twin Cities DX Association and Minnesota Wireless Association. He has earned Worked All States (WAS) on HF and 6M. His DXCC count is currently at 332. He operates CW and SSB about equally. His current operating interests are DX and casual contesting, along with ARES and emergency communications. He also enjoys constructing electronic and mechanical equipment.

His wife recently retired as a self-employed plant disease consultant and they have two grown children. Their son is also a ham, and is proud to be a 5-wpm General-Class licensee.